A recent internal investigation at Anaheim PD concludes that several officers wrongfully arrested an activist who frequently speaks out against OC Sheriff candidate Craig Hunter.

Anaheim PD questions activist before the arrest

James Robert Reade is a civil rights activist from Anaheim with a long history of publicly speaking out against abusive Anaheim police officers. For years, Reade has been making accusations specifically against Deputy Chief Craig Hunter, who is now a candidate for OC Sheriff.

Back in October, weeks before Craig Hunter was to announce his candidacy, James Robert Reade claims that he was assaulted by Anaheim PD and arrested on based on false accusations of drug use. Before the arrest, Reade says that the officers specifically brought up Craig Hunter and asked if Reade was going to be speaking out at any more city council meetings.

Anaheim PD pleads guilty

The letter above shows that an internal investigation determined the drug accusations to be completely false and that the offending officers would be disciplined and re-trained after being “discourteous” to the victim.

James Robert Reade has relentlessly documented the entire saga on his website at whiteroseanaheim.com

After the results of this investigation, it’s difficult to believe that the arrest of an innocent activist was just a coincidence. Why would these officers unlawfully harass and detain the most vocal anti-Hunter civil rights activist only weeks before Craig Hunter would announce his candidacy?

The actions of the Anaheim PD reek of political intimidation under the authority law enforcement. Did Hunter himself order the officers to harass Reade? Or were the officers merely acting out a culture of cronyism that has infected other police agencies in Orange County?

We may never know the truth, although Mr. Reade’s website is threatening a federal lawsuit against the department. If he follows through, perhaps some light will be shed on the disturbing activity inside the Anaheim police department.

Greg, APD’s investigation should be credited to the victims persistence. He showed up at half a dozen city council meetings and demanded answers and threatened a lawsuit. It still took the PD four months to come up with a 1 page response.

The officers were disciplined for being “discourteous”. You can imagine how serious their punishment was. The wrongful arrest earned them “extra training”. Do you think any discipline ever took place? We will never know, thanks to the way Anaheim PD handles personnel records.

The fact that Hunter is in charge of Internal Affairs only lends credence to the story – those cops knew that Hunter wasn’t going to come down on them. No accountability.

I guess we’ll just have to wait for the lawsuit to find out what really happened.